Introduction
The buyer decision process is a paradigm of perceptions and scenarios that help customers in purchasing the product from the markets. It impacts their decision power and gives them a useful chance of purchasing the desired product with correct market offering.
It is considered as a staircase between the buyer and the new product located on the store shelves. Furthermore, various marketing gurus have examined the five-stage framework which sets up the buyer decision process for the customers.
1 . Problem/Need Recognition:
This is considered as the first and the foremost step towards initiating the buyer’s decision process. How are we supposed to purchase the products from the market without evaluating their recognition of the need? It represents the need of the product that is being trigged through external or internal stimuli.
2 . Information Search:
The information search is another essential step in the process through which customers can gather some valuable insights regarding the product and swap between their choices until it meets perfection. It’s a time when a customer reaps the desired details of the product by checking on its label, packaging, market-offering and most of all, its price.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives:
Each product has its own way to shine and we cannot ignore that. By evaluating the alternatives, we can filter the best possible option which will fulfill our requirements up to the mark. In this step, products that are visually pleasing and have good feedbacks are the ones that end up in the customer’s bucket. Here, it is worth mentioning that customer’s attitude plays an essential role in selecting the product.
4 . Purchase Decision:
After rounding off a few products in the third step, the purchase decision is made in this phase. According to an expert, the purchase decision is influenced either by negative remarks regarding the product that we’ve purchased or the level of our willingness to try it as the best possible choice. Even though, it’s not the final stage of the cycle, the customers might still be doubtful after hearing what others perceive about the chosen product.
5 . Post-Purchase Behavior:
It’s a natural phenomenon that after purchasing the product from the market, we either encourage its market-offering or remain dissatisfied with its performance. The same phenomenon is observed under ‘post-purchase behavior’ which creates brand loyalty for the happy customers who wish to purchase the same product on a repetitive mode.
The buyer decision process is a profound way of stashing new products in the market based on our requirements. It consist of the vital aspects that push the customers in making the right purchase and highlights the need for recognition of the problem to avoid inconvenience later on.